Arts on Fire

WRFA founder and 10,000 Maniacs co-founder Dennis Drew joined AOF host Anthony Merchant to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of 107.9 WRFA and for an in-depth look back through the history of the station and what it took to the WRFA up and running https://maniacs.com/

Sukanya Burman and Daryl Simons of Sukanya Burman Dance made their AOF return to talk about the inaugural Jamestown Dance Festival and what has went into putting it all together https://www.sukanyaburman.com/ https://www.instagram.com/sukanyaburmandance/

Buffalo duo Sally Schaefer and Tyler Bagwell stopped by the WRFA studios before their Mayville Bluegrass Festival appearance to talk with AOF host Anthony Merchant for an interview along with an in-studio performance https://sstb2.bandcamp.com https://sallyanndra.com https://www.instagram.com/tylerbagwell https://www.instagram.com/sallyanndra

Miki Girts joined AOF host Anthony Merchant to discuss the 2024 Whirly Bird Festival going on in downtown Jamestown August 30 & 31st https://whirlybirdfest.com

The cast and crew of the upcoming Lucille Ball Little Theatre production of Rock of Ages joined AOF host Anthony Merchant to discuss rehearsals and what to expect from these performances https://www.lbltj.com

Two returning AOF guests Leslie Calimeri and Joseph Grice join host Anthony Merchant for the first time together for an interview about the 2024 NSAA Art Trail Hub Crawl and the 2024 Jamestown ArtScape https://nsaachautauqua.org/art-trail https://www.josephgrice.art/ https://www.chautauquaartgallery.com/

Len Barry of the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts joins AOF host Anthony Merchant to discuss the summer/fall at the Reg as well as their newly renovated seats https://reglenna.com/

Artist Kaycee Colburn returns to the WRFA studios to chat with AOF host Anthony Merchant all about her current works, this years Psychic Faire, Nightscapes Horror Festival, whats next for KayCo and much more https://kayco.art/ https://www.nightscapestudios.com/ https://www.facebook.com/events/crystal-ballroom/crystal-ballroom-psychic-faire/323176880866620/

Arts on Fire host Anthony Merchant talks with Steve O'Hearn, the artistic director of the Pittsburgh based group Squonk, all about Squonk's upcoming performances at Chautauqua Institution for it's 150th anniversary and much more https://squonk.org https://www.instagram.com/squonk_official https://www.chq.org

Arts on Fire host Anthony Merchant made his return to Roger Tory Peterson Institute to see and discuss the new exhibit Art That Matters to the Planet: Clarity with RTPI's Maria Ferguson and David Niles https://rtpi.org/

GA-20 guitarist Matt Stubbs talked with AOF host Anthony Merchant all about what the band has been up to in 2024, the beginnings of GA-20, the bands performance at Struthers Library Theatre in Warren to kick off their Roots Rising series and much more https://ga20band.com/ https://ga-20.bandcamp.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ga20band https://www.strutherslibrarytheatre.org/

Comedian, musician and writer Dave Hill joined AOF host Anthony Merchant to discuss his start in comedy and Dave's upcoming Jamestown performance for this years Lucille Ball Comedy Fest https://www.davehillonline.com/ https://www.instagram.com/mrdavehill https://tickets.comedycenter.org/Info.aspx? EventID=38

Buffalo musicians Sally Schaefer & Tyler Bagwell talked with AOF host Anthony Merchant about their new album Irish Songs & Tunes as well as their upcoming Chautauqua performances including this years Mayville Bluegrass Festival https://sallyanndra.com https://www.instagram.com/sallyanndra https://www.instagram.com/tylerbagwell https://sstb2.bandcamp.com/ Mayville Bluegrass Festival tix -https://ww...

Jamestown area artists Joseph Grice and Joseph Rice joined AOF host Anthony Merchant to discuss their duo art exhibit Imposter Syndrome at Pearl City Clay House, their art origins, getting mistaken for one another, painting with a crowd and much more https://www.josephgrice.art/ https://www.joericeart.com/ https://pearlcityclayhouse.org/

Arts on Fire host Anthony Merchant was interviewed by writer and fiber artist Miles Hilton for a story for paper The Villager to discuss topics such as hosting Arts on Fire, the Power Chord Hour Podcast, starting out in radio, Merchant's role at WRFA and much more www.youtube.com/@powerchordhour www.instagram.com/the_feral_needle/ www.theferalneedle.com/ thevillagerny.com/

Arts on Fire host Anthony Merchant was interviewed by writer and fiber artist Miles Hilton for a story for paper The Villager to discuss topics such as hosting Arts on Fire, the Power Chord Hour Podcast, starting out in radio, Merchant's role at WRFA and much more https://www.youtube.com/@powerchordhour https://www.instagram.com/the_feral_needle/ https://www.theferalneedle.com/ https://thevillager...

Local artist and musician Joseph Grice once again joined AOF host Anthony Merchant for a discussion all about Joe's latest works and exhibits https://www.josephgrice.art/ https://rtpi.org/events/painting-birds-with-watercolor-taught-by-joseph-grice/ https://www.instagram.com/Joseph_Grice_Art/

Rock band The Hallow Society (Sean Lander, Scott Slade, Frank Phillips, Philip Starkweather) returned to the WRFA studios to talk with Arts on Fire host Anthony Merchant and play a few songs https://x.com/HallowSociety https://www.facebook.com/TheHALLOWSociety

Performance collective Madness Most Discreet (Emily Drew, Matt McWilliams, Julie Reed, Rusty Allen) stopped by the WRFA studios for a full performance of "What You Will", a take on William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" https://www.instagram.com/madnessmostdiscreetco https://www.facebook.com/madnessmostdiscreet

Mike Brunacini once again joined AOF host Anthony Merchant to talk all about his new album Dying Leaves & Naked Trees, his side project Aftergloom, finding new life for old ideas, the process of writing a Mike Brunacini song and much more https://linktr.ee/MikeBrunacini https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikebrunacini/dying-leaves-and-naked-trees-on-vinyl https://mikebrunacini.wixsite.com/mikebr...

Fredonia photographer Patrick Stokes stopped by the WRFA studios to talk local photography, his volunteer efforts in Ukraine and this years Chautauqua County Art Trail with AOF host Anthony Merchant https://www.instagram.com/stokesphotographyand https://www.hopefull.org.uk/ https://siobhanstrust.uk/ https://nsaachautauqua.org/

Local musician Marc Smith spoke with AOF host Anthony Merchant all about the upcoming benefit and fundraiser for Shriners Hospitals at the Chautauqua County Fairgrounds May 24th & 25th https://www.facebook.com/events/1897852327400288

Kaycee Colburn made her AOF return to talk with host Anthony Merchant all about KayCo Gallery, concluding her CRNY residency at Jamestown Community College, local interest in the paranormal, getting into new forms of art, whats planned for the rest of 2024 and much more

Frank Besse of the Jamestown Renaissance Corporation and Leslie Calimeri of the Chautauqua Art Gallery returned to the WRFA studios to discuss Jamestown ArtScape 2024 with AOF host Anthony Merchant https://www.jamestownrenaissance.org/artscape/ https://www.chautauquaartgallery.com/

Performance collective Madness Most Discreet joined AOF host Anthony Merchant to discuss their upcoming performances of "What You Will" for Jamestown's Third Thursday series as well as perform select scenes from the play in-studio https://www.instagram.com/madnessmostdiscreetco https://www.facebook.com/madnessmostdiscreet https://www.facebook.com/people/Third-Thursday-Jamestown